All My Fault
by JTtheWarden
Summary: A certain character is feeling the weight of his actions, even though they were from such a long time ago.
1. Back to the Forest

It was me, I know that now. For years and years, I didn't understand. I do now. I didn't understand then because… well, none of us remembered. We were happy to do our master's bidding, but once he was destroyed… all our happiness vanished, our contentment. And something returned, first in dreams, then our waking moments. Flashes of recognition. I can't believe we forgot it all. And now we can't go back.

But if given the chance, would we?

"Hey, you three! Get out of here!" The red-faced butcher bellowed, his large belly jiggling grotesquely as he wobbled after the three kids running down the street, carrying assorted meats. "You kids come back here and gimme my meat!" His shouts and the quick fleeing movements of the kids drew a small crowd, which laughed and made no move to aid the wheezing shopkeeper. The last child, a round-faced boy with short brown hair and a handful of link sausages, gasped as he wobbled unsteadily, arched almost gracefully through the air, and fell on his face.

"Derek!" the second child called, a girl with wild, untamed black hair. She carried a package of steaks in her long thin hands. She slowed her pace as the fallen thief scrambled to his sneakers and regained his lost ground. The pair dashed to catch up to the waiting first child, a boy with ginger hair and narrow eyes and a large package of chicken.

"Let's go!" he urged his comrades, as they dodged farther and farther from the slow fat man. Soon, he had lost sight of the little pilfering kids and fell, huffing, to the stone road, his butcher knife gleaming cheerfully on the ground. Someone took pity on the exhausted butcher and extended a helping hand to him. He took it and stood, his apron smudged with dirt and blood.

"Never mind, old man," the man said, handing the shopkeeper his knife. "Those kids, the authorities will catch them one day."

"Don't be so sure, Mendel," the butcher said quietly. "They're slick, those three. And nobody really minds them. We just discovered that they don't want to be charity cases; they'd rather make do on their own. That's why they steal. So we all decided that we'd let them think they're getting away with it."

"What if they figure it out? Those kids?" Mendel wondered. "Won't they get angry?

"Oh, we're pretty sure they know. But we still make a big deal out of it when they steal, so it adds to the illusion that they're doing it on their own. If they didn't know, anyway, we'd be overestimating them."

"Why?" Mendel asked, accompanying the fat butcher to his shop.

"Well, every now and then, we'll leave out special treats for them, like Miss Ducroix: every year on their birthdays she'll bake a cake or pie and leave it ever-so-innocently on the windowsill, where unfailingly the appropriate child will come and 'steal' it."

"Why do they live like that?"

"We don't know. They were born here, each to dying mothers, and were left orphans. As small babies, they singled each other out and refused to be separated. Because of this, they remained unadopted. When they turned eight, they ran from the orphanage and lived out in the woods, and we didn't see them for three months. When we did, Jason and Mora were carrying Derek, the little one, and they forced themselves to the doctor's house, where they demanded that he help Derek. They claimed he'd been injured by a bear. When Doc asked about the bear, they said they'd killed it. Eight and nine years old, killed a bear. Can you believe that? Nobody else did, either. But that didn't concern them any, they were worried about the boy. After Doc patched them all up, they ran off again. For five more months, nobody saw them. Then one day, they were back, stealing and refusing our direct help. We fixed up an old house, made it halfway livable and let them do the rest. They live there now," he said, wrapping up his story with a vague wave of his hand. Both men looked beyond the horizon, to the dark dot that indicated the old house. "Now, Mendel, you wanted to buy some steaks for the week, correct?"

"YE-ES!" Derek cried, throwing his sausages into the air and catching them again as the trio darted into the big dark house. "Those villagers are so STUPID!" The first boy stopped abruptly, and the girl stepped briskly out of his way as he whirled about and grabbed the smaller boy. Derek dropped his sausages and tried to pry his fist from the collar of his jacket. "Jason! Lemmego!"

"Stupid?" Jason glowered, as the girl silently retrieved both sausages and chicken from the ground and took them to the dilapidated kitchen counter. "If it weren't for them, we'd be dead!" He shoved Derek away in disgust, and brushed off his black hoodie. Derek sat on the ground, pouting, his arms folded.

"Think, Derek, from where do we get our food? Our birthday cakes and pies? What about the clothes you're wearing now?" The girl said, alighting on the moth-eaten couch. Her green eyes flashed with unconfessed anger. "And the bear? When you lay on the pine needles, bleeding to death, who do you think saved you? The trees? Your 'wits'? No, of course not. Trees have no mystical powers, and you have no wits. Doctor Sims, a mere villager, saved you. Remember, you twit?"

"And they gave us this house. We owe them everything. One day we'll have jobs, money, and ways to pay them back. I swear it, Mora, Derek, on our souls. We will," his amber eyes glistened in the last rays of the sun, and Mora realized with a pang that he was going to cry. As their friend, he deserved respect and privacy in his time of depressing reflection.

"Come on, Derek, tonight's your turn to help with the food," She said quietly, as she turned to the kitchen and dragged the defeated boy by his jacket.

A few days later...

"Mora! Jason!" Derek called, slipping on fallen leaves and crashing to the ground. He hopped back up without bothering to brush the leaves from his jacket and burst through the door to their home, where Jason and Mora were sitting on separate chairs, reading days-old magazines and newspapers. "Hey, guys! Guess what I found! Guess!"

"What, Derek?" Jason asked, looking up at the boy in mild interest. "Another patch of mushrooms?"

"Or wolfsbane?" Mora interjected, without looking up from her magazine.

'You gotta come see!" he whined impatiently, dancing in place at the door. With ragged sighs, the other two stood, stretched, and followed their third towards the woods.

"What were you doing in there?" Jason asked, his eyes widening as he realized which way they were going.

"In whe- oh, Christ!" Mora whispered, her cat-like eyes opening in shock.

"Derek, we swore never to go back in here!" Jason said, glaring towards the boy, who rolled his eyes.

"Why? Because of the bear? He's dead! He's dead and gone and the woods are safe now!" Derek protested, grabbing Mora's wrist and pulling her to the edge of the woods. "Come on. I've been in here loads of times and I haven't seen nothing. 'Cept now! It's way cool!" he said, his round eyes lighting up with the manic energy he'd been possessed with a few moments ago.

"Derek," Jason began, warningly.

"Come on, Jason," Mora said, to both boys' surprise. "Just for a few minutes."

"We can't start indulging him, Mora! He'll expect it all the time!"

"It's one time, Jason! It won't spoil him!" Derek sighed at their familiar parental behavior and started into the woods. Mora spotted him and started after him. With a defeated sigh, Jason followed after them. He had a very bad feeling about this.  
After a half-hour's walk, with Mora and Jason still bickering, Derek gave an unexpected, "HA!" and ran, slipping on leaves once more, towards a stand of trees that were alike yet unlike all the others. They were a ring of six trees, and each adorned with small steps and a door. Mora was the first of the squabbling pair to realize this last fact, and she gasped as she ran up to one of them and reached out and gently touched the door. It was cold, metal. The door itself was shaped like a heart, and appeared to be pink until you looked closer and saw all the different shades of red, pink, and white that it was comprised of. The steps were little squares of white, with smaller hearts on them: Valentines.

"What are they?" Jason asked in a whisper, as if speaking loudly might break the spell. He was examining the orange and brown door shaped like a turkey and its food-shaped steps.

"Doors, Jason," Mora said, a bite of impatience creeping into her voice, but it melted as she went to another door. Behind them, Derek was standing with his hands in his pockets, grinning wide enough to split his skull in half.

"Where'd they come from? 


	2. Adverse Reactions

I am sure that my recollections bore you, but to understand the present, one must observe the past. I apologize, but we must continue and wander through the realm of my memories. I rather enjoy, I must confess, meandering through these long-suppressed and long-forgotten memories. You may or may not, but as you have selected this for your reading material… well, you get the idea. I am equally sure that you still do not see how it is my fault, but when the story gets further along, you will understand. Please continue. Oh, and one more thing- some of the following is a combination of memories from the others. They help me to set the story straight.

"I think a better question, Jason, is where do they go?" Derek said, pulling three lollipops from his jacket pocket and sticking one in his mouth, wrapper and all. He offered them to his friends, but they were far too engrossed in the magic of the trees to notice or care. He shrugged and put them back in his pocket, then unwrapped the one in his mouth and tossed the wrapper on the ground.

"Pick it up, Derek," Mora said, with her back to him, as she traced her fingers on the sparkling green shamrock door. Derek blinked in surprise but did as she asked.

"I still wanna know where they go," Derek said, trying to hint his intentions. Perhaps not intentions, but what he'd like to do. I'm still no great shakes at grammar. Anyway, he edged to the large pointed tree door. It was gleaming with thousands of what looked like jewels, each a different color of the rainbow. His hand trembled as he reached out to gently brush the decorations with his fingertips, and he lightly touched the golden doorknob, intending fully on opening it. He may have, if he hadn't been distracted by another door the other two were standing in front of. He forgot the golden doorknob completely as he joined his friends before the only door none had studied before.

"Look at it!" Jason whispered, boyish delight making his otherwise somber face glow. Mora glanced at him, and her breath caught in her throat. She'd never seen him this way- they'd had to mature faster, they'd HAD to, because of Derek. He'd never looked so much like the thirteen year old he was. She gripped his hand, grinned, and looked back at the door. It was so many shades of orange, with a carved face that looked to many before like a grimace. To the three children, it was a knowing and mischievous smile.

"We'll have to come back someday," Jason said, and the prospect of leaving this place seemed to drain all three of their happiness. "Come on… we should go before D… someone... it gets dark," he said, checking himself a few times. He let go of his friend's hand and started off. Mora bit her lower lip, wishing she could have captured the boy Jason and kept him that way.

'It's not fair,' she thought, with a sudden anger at Fate. 'We shouldn't have to live like this! Jason and I will never know childhood… we'll never be children ourselves. Always looking after… hang on, where's Derek?" She whirled around and gasped as she saw Derek's foot disappear beyond the now open pumpkin door. "JASON!" she cried, jumping forwards to try to grab any part of Derek, but it was hopeless. He was gone. Jason was now by her side once again, and his face was pale.

"Oh, God, Derek!" he called, sticking his head in the door. His eyes grew round as his body was caught in the gravity of the tree. "Mora!" he called, and she grabbed his hand, but the magical force swept them both up and pulled them through the door. Mora glanced back just before the door closed and her last thought was, 'Holidays….'

"Are you guys ok?" A familiar voice asked, as a pair of cold hands shook Mora awake. "C'mon, Mora, wake up!"

"Mora? Come on, wake up, please?" Another voice. Warmer hands holding hers.  
"She can't be dead," the first voice said, but he didn't sound convinced.  
"Of course not, you twit!" the second voice snapped, sounding as if he was on his last nerve. Mora's eyes fluttered open, to see Jason kneeling over her, his face paler than before, his amber eyes glistening with unshed tears. He grinned when she did, and he pulled her up to hug her and when he let her go, she saw Derek a few feet away sniffling and shuffing his feet. His sneakers were untied, as always.

"I'm ok, guys…" she stood, rather shakily, to look around at the dark landscape. As she stared, small lights appeared, flickering to an unheard tune. "What's going on?" she asked, her green eyes darting from one light to another.

"Dunno, they've been doing that for a while," Derek said, taking the lollipop from his mouth. "We haven't seen anything else, but we've heard voices and felt like something's watchin us."

"Shadows that move, and the lights look like jack-o-lanterns." Jason peered into the gloomy darkness.

"Halloween," Mora said, brushing leaves and dirt from her turtleneck and jeans. The boys turned to look at her, and she shrugged. "Think about it- an egg-door, a Christmas tree-door, a shamrock-door, turkey, heart- and pumpkin- these are the doors to holidays!" The boys gasped in understanding, and they all faced the darkness in unison as louder voices floated to them from the void. They followed them, as if in trances, absorbing the words. They came upon a tall sign, with a pumpkin head and thin, fluttering body which proclaimed, 'Halloween Town.' Mora beamed at them and they pressed on.

Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?  
Now you're here and you will see, this our town of Halloween!  
This is Halloween, here is Halloween, Children screamed in the dead of night!  
This is Halloween, see if they make a scene, see if they'll trick or treat with us all night!  
They are the ones lying on the beds, eyes growing wide as they turn dead!  
They are the ones walking down the stairs, the ones we always try to scare!  
This is Halloween, we are Halloween, HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN, Halloween, Halloween!  
In this town, you'll call home, you will hail to the pumpkin song!  
In this town, don't you love it yet? You really are quite the surprise!  
Round that corner, kids, crouched on the trash lid, something's waiting there to pounce and how you'll-  
SCREAM!  
This is Halloween, black and red, slimy green,  
Aren't you scared?  
Well that's not right! Say it once, say it twice, take a chance, you'll fit in nice! Come laugh with the town in the black of night!  
Why don't you scream? Why won't you scream? This is our town of Halloween!  
I am the clown with the tear-away face! You'll scream when I vanish here without a trace!  
I am the who when you demand Who's there? I am the wind you try to ensnare!  
I am the shadow on the moon at night! Filling your dreams to the brim with fright!  
This is Halloween, This is Halloween!  
Halloween, Halloween, HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN! Halloween, Halloween!  
Little children everywhere, life's not fun without a good scare!  
That's our job but we're not mean,  
Will you join our town of Halloween?

The trio gazed in wonder and delight at the residents of this mysterious town, listening to the song that would imprint upon their memories forever. It appeared they were either threatening or entreating them to join them! They moved closer, joining the throng of nightmares and monsters that viewed them with such interest. On a large wooden platform stood a tall, thin figure with a very shiny white head. He couldn't be human… yet he had a human form… It was Derek who nudged her ribs with a very bony elbow and whispered, 'He's a skeleton!' The crowd hushed as the skeleton turned to face the three children, who had somehow ended up standing apart from the rest of the group. He gave a very skeletal grin and cackled. To most, this laugh would have been very frightening, but to them, it was the same with the pumpkin door. Warm, welcoming, and friendly.

"YEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE!" 


	3. Dissention in the Ranks

Still, you do not understand. You will, in time, I swear it. We had discovered Halloween Town, and found it very appealing. Even… well, you'll have to read on to see for yourself. We had so much though we didn't know it. I'm a fool… I caused it all to snowball downwards into Hell. But that was later.  
"Welcome, mortals, to our Halloween Town!" The crowd cheered, and the tall skeleton gave an elaborate bow and beckoned them onto the stage. They very shyly joined him aboard the platform and stood nervously overlooking the crowd. The skeleton took Mora's hand and kissed it; one or two of the females in the crowd whistled. "What is your name, miss?"

"I'm Mora," she replied, nodding her head. The tall form shook both boys' hands and was introduced to them as well.

"I am Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. We were warned of your arrival by our brilliant scientist Dr. Finkelstein, who created a device that can see the future. We held a meeting similar to this one a week ago, and decided to allow you access to our town. So, Mora, Jason, Derek, welcome to Halloween Town! Meeting adjourned! I do so hate formalities," he whispered to the trio, as the crowd dispatched. Derek looked at the horizon, and saw a lonely tree bearing a very enormous house.

"Jack, what's that house?" he asked, pointing and removing the lollipop. Jack looked up and his face grew serious.

"That, Derek, is the Treehouse. You must never go there, under any circumstances." Behind him, Mora and Jason exchanged exasperated and knowing looks. Derek nodded solemnly, and stuck the sucker back in his mouth. "If you are to stay with us…"

"We can't," Jason said abruptly. "We have to go home." he pointedly refused to meet Mora's disappointed green eyes or Derek's outraged purple ones. Jack looked slightly crestfallen, but he recovered quickly.

"At least stay the night?" he asked, hopefully. "I would like very much to give you a tour. After all, it's not everyday we get human visitors." Jason looked into the eager eyes of his best friends and softened.

"All right…" He grinned as Derek and Mora high-fived each other and Jack gave a cackling laugh.

"Right! Where to start…"

"Didja see the demons' party?"

"The skeletons are SO cool!"

"Did you see me on that broom? I about crashed-"

"The fiery souls of-"

"Those bat-guys!"

"The vampires, Derek, not bat-guys!"

"The corpses! Everywhere!"

"It felt so great having them all round us!"

The three chattered non-stop as they bedded down in Jack's drafty house. A miniscule black spider crawled on Mora's arm and she smiled at it.

"Night, Legs!" she giggled, carefully removing the spider and setting it into a knothole in the floor. It scurried away and rapidly constructed a web that spelled, "Night, Mora", which made them all smile.

"Jason, do we really have to go back tomorrow?" Derek asked, gnawing on the lolly-less stick. Jason sighed, losing his buoyant expression from mere moments ago. Mora felt an odd sense of loss as she noticed this change.

"Yes, Derek, we have to go home"  
"Why?" Mora asked, again surprising both boys.

"What do you mean, why?" he asked, as though in disbelief that she would talk back.

"Why do we have to go back? We feel more at peace here, don't we?"

"Yeah, Jason! We should stay here!"

"We can surely stay for a little while, right? I mean, it's not like we have a family besides each other… Anyway… I feel… HOME here… Can't you feel it, too?" Jason studied her for a moment.

"I've got a bad feeling about this place... We shouldn't stay, no matter how much like home it feels. If we stay… we're walking dead. Dead already. We HAVE to go."

"I want to stay," Derek said, stubbornly. His eyes flashed with something close to fury. "I AM staying!"

"You can't!" Jason said, glaring.

"You're not my father! You can't tell me what to do anymore!" Derek said, rolling like a cask away from them. Mora sadly turned away from both boys and silently agreed with Derek. The spider walked around in a slow circle, mimicking a many-legged puppy, and lay down comfortably. Mora watched it sleep for a few minutes, as Jason sat up, and she could hear him sighing with a deep misery. She bit her bottom lip, longing to say something or do something to make him feel better. It was her unofficial role; she'd always done it. She sighed inwardly and tried to sleep.

"I'm staying…" whispered Derek, heard by neither Jason nor Mora. Legs, fast asleep, heard nothing.

"Not even a whole day here and we're already changing…" Jason sighed softly, staring up at the faraway ceiling.

"Jason, wake up!" Mora's frantic shouts and her little spider friend crawling down his cheek roused Jason from his restless sleep and he sat bolt upright. He rubbed his eyes and looked round to see an empty sleeping bag where Derek had spent the night.

"He's gone! Damn!" he stood to his feet and started to charge downstairs. Mora's face was blank, but she followed him. He tripped the last stairs and tumbled into the kitchen, where the smell of toasted bread and something slightly rotten greeted him.

"Sleep well?" Jack asked, raising a chipped black mug with something steamy inside it in greeting. Across from him sat Derek, his mouth full of toast with some kind of black jelly on it. He ignored Jason completely and instead looked out the tall, narrow windows that overlooked the even more narrow front steps. Jason shot him a confused glare and picked himself up from the ground. He turned to glare at Mora instead.

"What were you yelling at me like that for?" She frowned irritably.

"It was time for breakfast! Don't snap at ME!" she huffed and joined Jack and Derek at the table. Jason stopped where he stood and reviewed the last few minutes. They'd broken their firmly established rules, in those last confusing and emotional minutes. They NEVER snapped at each other like that! They never cursed, either, never argued so fiercely; they were the only family they had! What was happening to them?

"Mora, I'm sorry," he said, sighing. "I don't know what got into me. Derek… I'm sorry for yelling at you last night, too…" he shook his head at the breakfast Jack offered him and he went outside. Mora and Derek looked ashamed and ate in silence as Jack left to finish the touches on his Halloween plans for the upcoming year.

Jason sat on the fountain in the Town Square and sighed, then began to softly sing to a tune he'd never heard before.

"I sense there's something in the wind That feels like tragedy's at hand And though they'd like to stay behind Can't shake this feeling that I have The worst is just around the bend.  
And do they notice my feelings for them?  
And will they see how much they mean to me?  
They're everything to me.  
What will become of my dear friends?  
Where will our actions lead us then?  
Although they'd like to join this town With its witches, ghosts and clown.  
They want to stay so far from me,  
But we should always stay close together.  
No matter what, I cannot leave them here Because I hold them dear."

He stood and sighed, a melancholy sound even in this desolate place. A passing demonic cat gazed at him, its red eyes turning their wicked lamplight on him in pity. It hissed comfortingly and crept away between the shadows. He couldn't think of a single way to keep them all together and safe at the same time. He felt like he was losing his mind and his soul at the same time, and for the first time in his life since the bear, he felt…

He felt like the boy he was. 


	4. BeetleTripping

I am now nearing the middle of my tale, where it is revealed how we came to be… who we are. I still, years later, feel the need to apologize excessively to my team-mates, though they insist they do not blame me. Yet I blame me. Nothing shall ever erase my overwhelming guilt and self-criticism. Not even when I lay dead not only in soul but in body, shall these feelings ever leave me. Because my friends mean everything to me… and I led them into all this.

"Please," Jason said, quietly, leaning his head against the long and lean door of the Skellington mansion. "Please make them see!" His amber eyes were gazing skyward and he wasn't sure to whom he was speaking, but it didn't matter at this point. He gave yet another sigh and opened the door, or rather attempted to. The doorknob refused to turn. He blinked, then noticed a pale white sheaf of paper attached to the door with what looked like a small bone. A note, he realized, drawing closer. How had he not noticed it before? White on black tends to be quite noticeable, after all. He shrugged and supposed he had been so immersed in his musings that he had simply overlooked it. He took it from its place on the door and read it over, then reread it. He dropped it and ran, ran back towards the woods. The small, white paper had elegant slanting writing on it, saying, 'Jason- Derek slipped off after breakfast. I think he's at that Treehouse. Please, Jason, help me find him! -Mora' The wind howled like a wounded cat-demon and whipped the note into the air, carrying it up, up, up, and into the sun's direct light, where one can't see. Then the wind shifted direction entirely and back down, swirling everything it carried towards the fountain, and nothing in its clutches was small and white. The note had vanished.

Jason ran through the town, barely noticing the stares he was receiving from the concerned nightmares. They dared not get involved, lucky for him, as he headed inexorably towards the overlarge house on the under grown tree. He paused at its steps, then walked in, and immediately spotted Mora and Derek off to the right.

"You found him, then?" he asked, breathing hard. He doubled over from the effort, and Mora's gentle hands were on his back and shoulders, guiding him to a spot on the floor where neither bug nor dust had yet taken residence. He studied the room as he tried to regain his lost oxygen. A poodle-size roach scuttled in a corner, and he could have sworn that under the ominous clik-clik of its pincers he heard a garbled form of speech. This odd event gave him back his breath, and he leaned back slightly, resting on his hands.

"What do you mean, found him?" Mora asked, her acid-green eyes concerned. Jason blinked, had they always been acid-green? Hadn't they been deep hunter green at one time? He shook his head and looked at her again, concentrating on her instead of the color of her eyes.

"I found a note on Jack's door..." he paused. Had that even been her handwriting? She did indeed write like that, yet there was still an uneasy feeling about it all. A deep booming laugh from somewhere under the creaking Treehouse made them all jump, the entire conversation forgotten. Jason stood up and backed the others into a wall next to a pipe, which had smoke curling from it. He clenched his fists and his eyes darted from one moving shadow to the next.

"Oh, now, children, don't be afraid, I won't hurt you!" the deep voice said, clearly amused. It seemed to come from not only beneath them, but around them, above them, and even inside them. "I just want to get to know you, is all..." A large shadow ascended from the corner, complete with glowing red eyes. A large burlap sack stepped from the corner, or at least that was the kids' first thought. Looking closer, they could see a mouth, and deep black eyes, and the assumed shape of legs and arms. The large figure smiled eerily, giving what appeared to be a bow. He did a sort of dance step, causing Derek to roll his eyes and whisper in Mora's ear, 'Where is that music coming from, and why does everyone sing around here when they want to say something?'

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Human kids, huh?  
Oooh, they're really scared!  
So you're the ones everybody's talking about!  
You're jokin, you're jokin,  
You're kidding Oogie now!  
You're jokin me, you gotta be!  
They wouldn't be in my house!  
They're midgets, they're naive!  
Don't know if they will work!  
I'd better try to help them now,  
If Jack hasn't gotten to them first!  
Mr. Oogie Boogie says There's friendship close at hand!  
You'd better stay with me now,  
cuz I'm the Boogie Man!  
And if you aren't shakin,  
Well you won't go wrong!  
Cuz this won't be the last time You hear the Boogie song!  
Wooah, (Wooah)  
Wooah, (Wooah)  
Wooah, (Woooah)  
I'm the Oogie Boogie man!  
Well if you're feeling antsy, and there's nothing much to do,  
I'll cook you my special batch Of snake and spider stew!  
And do you know the one thing that would make it work so nice?  
Little human company to add a little spice!  
Woooah! Wooah!  
Wooah! Oooooh!  
Wooah! Yeah!  
I'm the Oogie Boogie man!"

The burlap sack, or as it proclaimed to be, Oogie-Boogie, stepped forwards and stuck out his 'tongue' at the three. They grinned in reply, and Derek pronounced it, "Cool!" Oogie blinked twice, leaned back and gave his great laugh again.

"Impressive!" he extended what appeared to be a hand to the three, and Derek gave him a 'five', followed by Mora and Jason. "Welcome to my Treehouse!"

"How come Jack told us to stay away from here? Cause of you?" Derek asked, as Mora sighed. He was so rude, she thought shaking her head.

"Jack likes his little joke," he said, still chuckling. "Thinks its funny, see, to tell youngsters like yourself, mortal and corpse alike, that my house is dangerous and to be avoided. Just because it needs a lot of TLC doesn't mean it's dangerous!" As he spoke, a section of roof dislodged and fell where Derek had been standing mere moments ago. Oogie grinned almost sheepishly. "Ok, not TOO dangerous… SO! I've introduced myself, what about you? Who are you, who walk in uninvited to my Treehouse and impress me with your fearlessness?" Jason appeared wary, but Derek and Mora introduced themselves with such enthusiasm that he felt ashamed for doubting such a friendly soul, and he, too, introduced himself. "Well, kids, how would you like to stay with me for a while? They've told me that you don't have a proper family- don't give me that surly look, now. I was only repeating to you what I've been told. I don't have a proper family, either." Jason sighed and pulled his cohorts back by their shirts, politely excusing them.

"I still think we should go home, but I don't want to split us up at all. We'll vote-" he cringed inwardly at the utter futility of it all,"- all for going home, stand here," he drew a line in the dust with his sneaker and stood by it. "For staying here, stand there," he pointed to the pipe. Derek immediately stood by it. Both boys looked expectantly at Mora, who looked back and forth from one to the other. Sighing quietly, she slowly stood by Derek. Jason nodded, and none of his disappointment showed, not a chink. "Ok, Mr. Oogie, we'll stay with you." Derek latched onto Jason in a warm and brotherly hug, then ran around the room, and promptly tripped over a small beetle. 


End file.
